Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1887-06-17
ABOUT THE WASP.
Some of His Distinguishing Charac-
ter.stics.

as some prejud ccs are; race prejudice.
for instance, which is the making OF
nations. But not this one aga nst
wasps. For it is really only a protest
against vigorous personality. against
the assertion of individual power. In
the human species there are wasps-
strong lighted men, whom most fear,
and many, out of our sheer weakness.
hate. for their robustness Of mind and
their intellectual aggressiyeness. Such
do not work in wax, nor store honey
Yet the Workmanship of bees. as COM
pared with that of wasps, is the work
manship Of blind mutes initiating a
pattern by touch of fingers as com
pared with that of uncrippled and in
dependent intellect The life history
of the wasp, too. is far more worthy
of self than the hive folk. Sting?
OF course they do. if necessity arises.
and often, grateful to Providence 70,
the weapon, they make the necessity
for themselves. Ought they to keep
their talents wrapped in napkins'
No one likes bees better than / do.
have kept hives. But. after al. they
are not the cattle and poultry of the in
sects? They are the sheep. while the
wasps are the wild deer. The one rep
resents routine, the other one protests
against routine. What poetry is there
in the lives of bees rs compared with
that of wasps?-in the tame citizen
ship of the artificial hive, the machine
made honey comb. as compared with
the romance of the woodland comb
maker? Both be and wasp need
honey; but the latter, when he has not
the leisure (or the Wild to gather it for
itself. goes after the former. What,
no, there,' it cries. You bumbling
fellow, in your jerkin of woody brown,
stand and deliver and the bee does.
a pirate of the air? a highwayman
of skyey roads and heaths? No, no;
not at all. This is the way of cour-
ageous genius, that knows how to take
the bricks which the dill gent mechanic
al student has been piling up into reg
ular heaps in his brick-yard, and to
build beautiful houses with them. Left
alone. they would have been piles of
bricks. and nothing more, forever and
a day But better man comes along
and bravely possesses himself of them.
~ on can 90 and rummage for more"
ha 81, .I. Il.
that is your life work-to make bricks.
Mine is to bu Id with the bricks which
you make" OF course, the bee buzzes
and says: you mustn't; you really
ought not. | want the honey myslef
to fill cell with" The wasp repl es.
Deliver. or you are dead bee" Or
suppose they argue more calmly:
What are you doing?" demands the
wasp. Going home with my honey
bag, replies the other. What for?"
To fill cell with" well, what
them When the cell is filled what
shall you do?" shut it up and begin
another, " is the reply. and then?'
Fill that up, too, and begin another"
Imagine the generous fury of the wasp!
"Oh, thou mutton headed fl And is
that the end of life-to fill cells with
honey and eat none? To sweat all the
summer through and have no harvest
of your toll? o thou gross one! Thou
honey-grubber Thou m ser of honey
bags! Perpetually filling for others to
Woodland without the wit to see that
thou art the sport of spendthrifts. Out
of this! Give up your honey, or, odd
cooks! this rapier at the end of me
shall rid the world of a numskull
variet." But, like the sturdy good
citizen that he is. the bee often refuses
to surrender, and then woe to him. the
poor honest fellow in his fustian coat.
For my gentleman whips out his bod
kin, and there is an end of the bee.
In short. there is a great deal to say
about the wasp, and in its favor. Its
sodierly ways, so smart" and alert
the lancer in the field. gladiator ut
need. When they 60 abroad it is with
ing foraging, fighting. And the mes,
is citadel. There is no ''bumbing''
variety of the wasp, no "bum BILE" wasp.
They make very Little fuss about what
they do. Yet sometimes. when they 90
by, there is slung past your ear sound
like rifle bullet; not ike the bees of
"a full content" but an eager racing
voice that has an objective point before
it. Thus they keep life from getting
stagnant. Many insects would 90 Ia
sleep altogether il it were not for the
wasps, who are forever accommodating
other peoples prem SEES. Just as nature
keeps n hawk hung up in the air to
teach the groundlings that life is not
all beer and skittles." so she always
has a wasp on hand to repress the idea
OF perpetual gayety among insects. 1t
is the falcon of the dipterous folk. So.
too. when il is not at work there is
delightful idleness about the wasp; a